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We are pleased to announce that FIRA will host an international conference in Toronto next fall. Entitled Father Involvement Research 2008: Diversity, Invisibility, Community, the conference will feature keynote addresses, panel discussions and workshops led by some of the top father involvement scholars and practitioners from Canada and abroad. This gathering, which will take place October 22- 24, 2008, is sure to offer a wealth of information and networking opportunities for researchers, students, practitioners and policy makers who wish to further their knowledge of father involvement.
FIRA has chosen the Delta Chelsea Hotel, located in the heart of downtown Toronto, as the conference venue.
This December we will launch a conference website. Requests for proposals will be also be released at that time. Further information will be available in the coming months.
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FIRA’s Indigenous Fathers cluster has introduced a groundbreaking new documentary film on DVD called Fatherhood: Indigenous Men’s Journeys.
The film is part of a package of resource materials resulting from work of the first Canadian study to examine the experiences of indigenous fathers. The Indigenous Father’s cluster, led by University of Victoria Child and Youth Care professor, Jessica Ball, is part of FIRA’s national community-university research alliance project.
The 40-minute documentary presents six Canadian First Nations and Métis fathers, aged 27 to 60, talking frankly about overcoming significant social obstacles and personal challenges in order to become positive roles models for their children. Their stories are presented, simply and honestly, without commentary or analysis, and the men are not afraid to discuss difficult subjects, such as substance abuse, growing up without a father or having difficulty assuming their own fatherhood responsibilities. For example, one man spoke of coming to terms with the impact that his parent’s residential school experience had on his upbringing and also the way he parented his first two children. He expresses regret for some of his actions and the healing process he and his daughters have had to go through. Another father speaks of how he drank and did drugs “all my life,” including some of his early parenthood years. “I wasn’t able to look after my kids until I looked after myself,” he explains, making it clear that his connection to his child was one of the assets that allowed him to deal positively his substance abuse issues.
Most of the fathers talk about how much they learned about fathering from their children and they encourage other Indigenous men to become involved in caring for their children, even though they may still have much to learn.
A film was not part of Ball’s original plan for the project. However, documentary filmmaker Paul Wu, of Asterisk Productions, approached her with the offer to make a film on a pro bono basis, and very soon fathers were volunteering to share their stories on camera. These stories reveal a great deal about mens’ diverse paths to involvement with their children. They also show that a great deal of potential may be lost if society gives up too soon on men who might appear unable to assume the mantle of responsible parent.
The Indigenous Fathers Resource package, which also includes two booklets -- one for Indigenous fathers and another for community professionals -- was identified by the fathers who participated in the project as the best way to share what has been learned from the research. Both booklets include personal fatherhood stories from the research participants and also some of the findings about how these men are learning about fatherhood.
The film and booklets in the resource package are designed to be used in a variety of settings, in particular, community programs that serve Indigenous fathers, mothers and children. The materials can also be used to enhance professional development workshops as well as post-secondary courses for family health, social services, law, early childhood education and youth care practitioners.
The Indigenous Fathers Resource Package is available, through the website of Early Childhood Development Intercultural Partnerships, a multi-site research project led by Jessica Ball at the University of Victoria.
The full resource package is available for $90.00 plus shipping and taxes. This includes:
• Fatherhood: Indigenous Men’s Journeys 40 minute DVD
• Aboriginal Fathers. A Guide for Community Programs (60 page, full colour booklet)
• Beginning the Journey of Fatherhood. A Guide for Aboriginal Men. (60 page full colour booklet)
• 17” X 23” poster
• Summary of the Indigenous Fathers Research Project
• Information sheets
• Worksheet for program workshops.
The DVD can be ordered separately for $29.95 plus shipping and taxes.
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The Nanaimo Men’s Resource Centre is one of a number of Canadian grass-roots organizations set up to offer services for divorced and separated men. What sets this centre apart is that it has expanded beyond the issue of divorce to include other types of workshops for men, including some for fathers in intact families.
The Centre was started by Theo Boere, a retired former businessman, who found himself on an unanticipated career path after going through a difficult divorce. Boere is a community partner is FIRA's Separated and Divorced Fathers cluster, which is led by Dr. Edward Kruk
“I had been looking for services for men in my situation,” says the 56-year-old father of two, who now lives and works in Nanaimo, B.C., and. “Already having spent tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers and counsellors, I was looking for low or no-cost programs. I couldn’t’ find any so I started a support group for men going through divorce.”
One thing led to another and in October 2002, about a year and a half after the first support group, Theo established the Nanaimo Men’s Resource Centre in a heritage building which once housed the city’s courthouse and police station. At first, most of the centre’s services were related to divorce and some of those programs still run, such an evolved version of the original support group which centred on legal issues. “On the first and third Wednesday evenings of the month we have the support groups for men (and now women too) dealing with legal issues related to divorce,” says Boere. “The facilitators are lay people, but we often have volunteer lawyers and counsellors on hand for those who need them.” Individual counselling and presentations on specific divorce and family law related topics are also offered from time to time.
After a few years, Boere began to see the need to expand beyond the issue of divorce, and began offering offering a more diverse range of programs and workshops including men’s drumming circles, anger management for men and women, transformational breath workshops and a parenting curriculum from Australia called Triple P. More recently the centre has added more fatherhood programs that are not related to divorce, including a father’s prenatal course, offered in partnership with the Vancouver Island Health Authority, and an adapted version of Dad’s Make A Difference, a program which originated in San Angelo, Texas...
Click below to read the full version of this story, which is archived in our About Father Involvement section.
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